Down By the Water
by 3iggy
Summary: A short-story written for the Labyfic Live Journal Challenge, "The Door." Some doors lead to golden opportunities. All fluff and girly stuff. I was in a very romantic mood. Be prepared for flowery language, it is a fault of mine.


Down by the waters  
Where I once dreamed  
Beneath a silver moon they will find me

My heart a pilgrim, my mind a slave

Oh! My eyes can't stand to see the light of day  
'Cause life is lost without love wouldn't you say

* * *

I raced barefoot across the cold wooden floors as my nightgown beat a quiet rhythm against my legs. Grabbing a long coat from the hook in the foyer I paused for a moment to listen to the house. It seemed frozen in slumber—not a soul noticed my exit.

The early spring air sent shivers up my spine as I slipped my feet into a faded pair of red boots. Rain threatened to break forth from the pre-dawn clouds as mist rose up from the ground, dancing in the light of street lamps. I didn't care. I just wanted to be free. Free of the stuffiness of my second floor bedroom, and the feelings of confinement that often accompanied large houses that were full of large personalities. I loved my family, but sometimes I just needed to be alone—to be wild and free.

My legs carried me swiftly down well-known paths, my ears straining to hear the rush of waves upon sand. I could visualize the rocky coast, covered in foam and moonlight. In a few hours the sun would breach the horizon painting the tide every shade of pink imaginable and I would be there to see it and witness the birth of a new morning.

The heart in my chest, wild thing that it was, leapt with excitement as the hard earth gave way to thick wet sand. Salty air tore at my braid, whipping gleeful strands of dark hair before my eyes. I laughed aloud at the feeling. Oh to be a mermaid, what would I've given to be a mermaid and live in the sea, to sleep in the soft embrace of the sand and sing to the moon as she raised round and full above the seas?

Without a care for the chill, I yanked off the boots and tossed my coat aside. What would Irene think if she saw me like this? My white gown clung to my lanky form as I pulled the hem up past my knees and leapt into the oncoming rush of water.

The frigid tide bit at my skin, shocked a gasp from my lips, but I didn't retreat. Dropping my hem, forgetting it in my joy, I ran like a mad woman down the shore without a care in the world. There was pure magic in mornings like those, they didn't occur often, but when they did I enjoyed them to the fullest. That morning was different, however.

The door appeared out of nowhere. It was the strangest thing standing there amidst the sea foam, held in place by unseen walls. I knew immediately from whence it came. Only one being known to me could achieve such a thing, and I hadn't encountered him in a number of years.

Thoughts of him gave me reason to pause.

"Oh little door, how benign you look with your hinges of brass." I whispered to the image.

Slowly, I approached the peaceful looking symbol. Doors were tokens of change, of passage, and transition. Jareth had guided me through one such transition like an anti-Peter Pan, he pulled me out of childhood, and taught me what it meant to grow-up. What lesson could my old tutor be peddling this time? I wondered.

My hand reached out and found purchase upon the whitewashed wood of the portal in a gentle caress. Did I dare to push? Could I handle what lay beyond? My other hand came up and rested beside its mate and I leaned in to press my cheek and chest against the cold wood.

With shallow breaths I pushed gently against the door. When nothing happened, I pushed harder, but the door refused to budge. I realized that the door wouldn't open if I was even a little resistant myself, so I took a deep steadying breath and remembered the joy I felt upon reaching the beach, and I pushed a third time.

The door flung open and I stepped through it. The air was warmer on the other side. I closed my eyes as the early morning light engulfed me. When I opened them, the door was gone, although the beach looked much the same.

Salt and magic flavored each breath that I took, I should've been scared, but there was no room for fear in that place, it was too full of sand dunes, rocky outcroppings, and the golden hue of morning. I was only mildly surprised when I saw him standing a few yards away from me.

"To what do I owe this invitation?" I asked, suddenly aware of my indecent appearance. Although, I reminded myself that the fae-king's haphazard gaze had probably witnessed generations of young women dance beneath the moon naked, in the earth's younger days, my sea-sprayed nightgown would have to suffice.

"To what do I owe your acceptance of it?" He countered, answering my question with a question.

"How could any woman resist the appearance of an impossible door and the chance to walk in another world on this golden morning?" I smiled, not allowing the dormant distrust I had of him to surface. I had nothing to fear from him, he had no power over me.

"I promised you golden mornings a long time ago, do you remember?" He canted his head, pale-hair cascading to one side.

"Vaguely." I brushed past him, inhaling the scent of blue skies and summer rain that drifted off of him, wondering if I myself smelled of spring mornings and the violets planted outside of my home. Daringly, I cast a teasing smile over my shoulder which he answered in kind, his razor-sharp grin all mischief and mayhem. He could make a glorious mess of me if he chose to. There on those shores no game stood between us, no Toby, no wishes, no winning. We were no longer enemies, just two beings.

"You're beautiful," I stated boldly, turning my back to him. I advanced forward to pick up bits of shells and pebbles, dusting the sand from their shiny surfaces.

"And, you are quite grown-up. I'm surprised. No accusations, no incriminations…would it be impossible for me to believe that you harbor no ill-will from our former dealings?" He came alongside of me, causing my skin to tingle, my heart to flutter.

"I'm not a child." I shifted my gaze to his, those eyes of his were arresting. I'd only survived his mild seduction years earlier because I was ignorant of the promises those windows held. Were he to whisper those last words between us now, would I be brave? So heedless of their meaning? Would they change anything?

"I wouldn't dream of calling you a child." He stepped forward.

"What would you dream of then?" I stayed where I was, allowing him to draw near to me.

"Of this. I've waited a long time for this moment." Even speaking candidly his trickster spirit was hard to ignore, it played about the corners of his mouth, and sparked in his eyes, even his hair displayed its waywardness.

"Oh, and what exactly is this?" I pranced out of his reach.

"Well, I always knew that you would come back to me." He was ever so humble. "But, I knew that the time was right when I saw you so wild and enchanting upon that beach before the break of day. Wind whipping your hair, skin bared against the chill. You belong with me." His gloved fingers found their way into my hair, they untangled my braid further. I shivered at his touch.

"You and I are made of the same fire, the same desires, and the same spirit. You read the mischief in me, don't tell me that you can't recognize it within yourself?" He purred into my ear.

He was right of course.

"How could I argue with a king?" I mocked.

"You shouldn't try—we are excellent debaters—unusually skilled at having our own way."

"Ah. Perhaps, you are the one who needs to grow-up then. One cannot always have their own way, that is very childish." I could feel the sparks erupting in my own eyes.

"Maybe."

Moving gracefully, he entwined his fingers into my hair and pulled me to him, kissing me. Our lips tasted of salt and stardust. I tangled my own fingers into the fabric of his shirt and let the taste of eternity overwhelm me, drive me mad.

I'd known when I set out from the house that morning that magic awaited me, I just didn't expect it to be in such corporeal form. The wonderful little door had led me to quite an unexpected place.


End file.
